Jan 11, 2024 - CWA Pres. Cummings Brings Workers' Voices to Consumer Electronics Trade Show and other news

Last week, AFA-CWA Flight Attendants aboard Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 sprang into action when the plane experienced a sudden decompression after losing a “refrigerator-size door plug.” Thanks to the skill and quick thinking of the crew, neither passengers nor crew members were injured. Flight Attendants with Alaska Airlines have been demanding better wages and safer work conditions since last fall.

On Saturday, Association of Flight Attendants-CWA President Sara Nelson released a statement in which she said, “Flight Attendants are trained for emergencies, and we work every flight for aviation safety first and foremost. Last night, Flight Attendants working Alaska Flight 1282 performed our jobs with skill and professionalism to care for passengers after what has been described as an explosive decompression at a window/plugged door.”

Though the plane was able to land safely, the FAA has grounded all Boeing 737 Max 9 aircraft until they can be thoroughly inspected.

Alaska Airlines Flight Attendants, members of AFA-CWA, staged multiple actions at airports around the country in December 2023.

This week, CWA President Claude Cummings Jr. joined Acting Secretary of Labor Julie Su, AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler, and UNITE HERE President D. Taylor for a panel on AI and the Workforce at the Labor Innovation and Technology Summit. The Summit, which coincides with the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), brings together movement leaders and working people to discuss and develop strategies to ensure ethical technology adoption and to provide workers’ perspectives on emerging technologies

As corporate CEOs attending CES touted the latest advancements in AI, President Cummings highlighted CWA’s approach to ensuring that AI is being implemented responsibly. He cited the recent tentative agreement on AI negotiated by CWA members at Microsoft’s Zenimax video game studio as an example of the role that collective bargaining agreements can play, and invited other companies to work with CWA to enable their employees to more easily form unions.

“Worker input is critical for ensuring that AI is human-centered and effective in achieving meaningful goals,” said President Cummings. “Workers have dedicated their labor to the company’s mission and take pride in a job well done. We are ready and willing to partner with management to harness new technologies to augment, not automate, America’s workers.”

CWA President Claude Cummings Jr. discusses the impact of AI on workers with AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler (left) and Acting Secretary of Labor Julie Su (right) at the Labor Innovation and Technology Summit.

Today, instead of following the CWA tradition of wearing red on Thursdays, thousands of CWA members are wearing blue as part of National Human Trafficking Awareness Day. Throughout the month of January, AFA-CWA Flight Attendants are promoting greater public awareness about the scourge of human trafficking. Human trafficking involves the use of force, fraud, or coercion to obtain some type of labor or commercial sex act. Human trafficking is a billion-dollar business, and every year, millions of men, women, and children are trafficked worldwide. It can happen in any community, and victims can be any age, race, gender, or nationality.

You can participate in this important campaign by posting a photo of yourself and others wearing blue on social media platforms. When sharing your post, don't forget to include the hashtags #WearBlueDay and #TacklingTrafficking. If you're using X (formerly known as Twitter), make sure to tag @afa_cwa to spread the word even further.

Learn how to recognize and report human trafficking at www.dhs.gov/blue-campaign/general-public-indicators-training-course.

For its 33rd year, the Union Plus Scholarship Program is gearing up to review thousands of applications from inspiring current and prospective college, university, and technical or trade school students. The program has awarded over $5.4 million in educational funding to more than 3,800 students from union families since 1991. Last year, the Union Plus Scholarship Program awarded $200,000 in scholarships to 205 students representing 41 unions.

The deadline to apply for a 2024 Union Plus Scholarship is January 31. Visit unionplus.org/scholarship to learn more and access the application.

CWA members and their spouses, children, and grandchildren, including those of retired or deceased members, may also apply for the Joe Beirne Scholarship (deadline April 30, 2024).

CQ Roll Call

A supermajority of workers at CQ Roll Call have decided to form a union, the CQ Roll Call Guild, which will become part of NewsGuild-CWA. CQ Roll Call’s parent company, FiscalNote, has denied the workers’ request for voluntary recognition of the union, so the workers will participate in a​ National Labor Relations Board election to win their union​.

“I work for a consistently profitable news outlet,” said Jim Saksa, a features reporter at CQ Roll Call. “That should be a source of comfort and joy. But instead of seeing reinvestment in the newsroom, I’ve seen it shrink. That’s absurd. It’s past time to unionize.”

Workers are demanding fair pay and benefits, stronger job protections, and more transparency from management about decisions affecting the newsroom.

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EO Media Group

Staffers at two Central Oregon papers, The Bulletin and The Redmond Spokesman voted last month to form the Central Oregon NewsGuild, TNG-CWA Local 37082, after EO Media Group refused to voluntarily recognize their union. Citing skyrocketing cost of living increases and the vulnerability of journalism jobs, workers agreed that forming a union would provide more security and a chance to improve wages.

“I supported unionization at The Bulletin because of the nature of the industry,” said Morgan Owen, The Bulletin’s general assignment reporter. “I have seen too many young reporters like myself change jobs because they cannot afford to have a career doing what they love. EO Media Group has been generous, but the industry as a whole is in need of reform.”

For more than a year, three different CWA units have struck together against the union-busting, scab-hiring Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Many CWAers have chipped in to support the striker fund that these brave strikers depend on for their everyday needs. Others have joined their picket lines or read their strike publication, the Pittsburgh Union Progress.

If every CWA member donated $1 a month to the Striker Fund, it would support the workers for months—almost surely through to strike victory. That’s why we’re challenging every CWA member to start off the new year right by signing up to make a recurring donation of at least $1 per month to the Pittsburgh Striker Fund.

Will you help these brave striking workers win the justice we all deserve?

Looking for more ways to support the strikers? Add your favorite recipes to their new Solidarity Cookbook. And keep an eye out for an opportunity to purchase the cookbook once it is finished!

Click the link below to find out more.

Pittsburgh-Gazette Strikers Seek Recipes for Solidarity Cookbook

Make your New Year’s resolution count in 2024. Life insurance can help protect your family's financial future with cash benefits that can be used for rent or mortgage, college savings, student loans, and more if the worst happens. Click here to learn how affordable a Union Plus Term Life Insurance Plan can be and apply online.